New Rs 50 notes surface on social media

The central bank had already issued new batches of Rs 500 in June and Rs 20 notes in July with the new Mahatama Gandhi series and Urjit Patel's signature

Speculations are rife once again over release of new currency notes, and this time it is Rs 50. The lower denomination note made headlines after Rs 50 currency notes in new design and serial number were spotted on social media platforms earlier today.

A radical change in the colour scheme is the first thing to pop out in the leaked images seen online. These Rs 50 notes sport a bright turquoise colour, as opposed to the drab brownish shade seen on the ones presently in circulation. As for the finer details, the alleged new Rs 50 notes will bear the Mahatama Gandhi 2005 series and signature of Urjit Patel, the incumbent Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Patel had promised to launch new Rs 50 notes last year. "The Reserve Bank will shortly issue Rs 50 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, without inset letter in both the number panels, bearing signature of Dr Urjit R Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and the year of printing '2016' printed on the reverse of the banknote," he had stated.

The RBI has not confirmed printing or releasing these new Rs 50 notes, though, raising questions on the authenticity of these images. The Hindu Business Line had even stated that the reverse of the note will have a temple from South India, which again could not be confirmed, as the images only show the front of the note

The central bank had already issued new batches of Rs 500 in June with inset letter 'A' and Rs 20 notes in July with inset letter 'S'. These also bore the new Mahatama Gandhi series and Patel's signature.

Moreover, RBI has reportedly stopped printing Rs 2000 notes and ramped up the printing of new batches of Rs 500 notes in its place. The central bank is also set to introduce new note of denomination Rs 200 shortly. The Rs 2000 notes in circulation will continue to be legal tender, though.

While declaring devaluation of old high denomination notes in November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that new Rs 50 and Rs 20 will also be released in time, with number panels having numerical in ascending sizes, like the new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes, and the intaglio printing.

Share